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Andover considers firearms ordinance

Posted: Mar. 10, 2014 11:37 pm Updated: Mar. 14, 2014 12:59 am

By ERIC OBERNAUER

eobernauer@njherald.com

Andover Township officials are working on a set of rules regarding the discharge of firearms on private property in an effort to clarify, among other things, the hours during which firearms may be discharged and the minimum required distance from neighboring homes and other structures.

The proposal would also institute a permit process for anyone operating a private shooting range. Anyone applying for a permit would be required to deposit money in an escrow account, which would pay for the township zoning officer and other experts to conduct a site visit and other work necessary to review the application.

Township Committeeman Tom Walsh said Monday that a proposed ordinance could be ready for introduction when the committee meets again March 24.

The effort to draft a written set of rules — which parallels a similar effort under way by the Montague Township Committee, which meets tonight at 7 — follows complaints received late last year concerning the repeated discharge of firearms on private property in Andover Township near the Bodhi Monastery, a Buddhist temple on Germany Flats Road.

Andover Township officials initially checked to see if any existing rules applied and could find nothing on the books pertaining to shooting on private property.

"I'm not against private shooting ranges. Folks certainly have a right to have a gun; I have no problem with that as long as it's legal and registered," Mayor Phil Boyce said recently. "But it sounded like some of this was just too much."

He added: "We needed to put something on the books so that the Police Department, if a police officer is called, has an ordinance they can look at and say OK, this is what's allowed and this is what's not. That's all this really is."

Although state law mandates a 450-foot buffer for hunters with rifles and shotguns, the law is silent about the use of weapons for other purposes, leaving it up to municipalities to decide how much of a buffer, if any, is needed.

The proposed set of rules in Andover Township, which officials intend to base on a similar ordinance already on the books in Harding Township, in Morris County, would do nothing to supersede hunting regulations but would apply the required 450-foot buffer — that is, the minimum required distance from homes, businesses, and other structures — to the discharge of firearms for other purposes.

The proposal would also limit the discharge of firearms on private property to six days per week, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., with no shooting allowed on Sundays. The limited hours would apply not only to rifles but also to other types of weapons including semiautomatics as well as shotguns, pistols, and revolvers.

The ordinance being considered in Andover Township comes as Montague officials, too, are considering whether to enact restriction on how close to a private home a firearm may be discharged. Montague officials began mulling a proposal last year following several complaints regarding the recreational use of a handgun in a residential area of Chubby Lane.

"I wish they (Montague officials) would pass something similar to Andover to let people after dinner at least sit down to enjoy their summer evening," said Montague resident Bob Scabet, who lives on Chubby Lane and was among those who first complained to officials there several months ago.

Frank Fiamingo, president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, a gun rights advocacy group committed to the responsible ownership and use of firearms, said recently that he was not opposed to the enactment of buffers of the type being considered in Andover Township and Montague.

"There are ideologues on both sides," Fiamingo said. "I believe in common sense and human rights. I don't believe in enacting laws or ordinances just because somebody thinks it's a good idea, but I am not against any ordinance that legitimately protects the safety of innocent neighbors."

While cautioning against what he called a knee-jerk response to any one particular incident, Fiamingo said sensible restrictions were both reasonable and justifiable.

Walsh reiterated Monday, as Boyce had said previously, that the proposal in Andover Township is not intended to be punitive or to apply to anyone specifically.

Boyce, for his part, said recently that "a lot of what we do on the Township Committee is make sure our residents are being good neighbors and are playing nice with one another. When we find that that's being abused, we have to take a look and see if something legally needs to be done."

Boyce said, after the complaints that were received last year, that township officials agreed something had to be done.

"We saw we didn't have an ordinance on the books that would govern private shooting on personal property and that we probably needed one," Boyce said.

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